DURAMED FUTURES TOUR REPORT

Liz Janangelo takes early

lead in Lafayette

Wind-blown players from the morning tee times came off the course in the first round of the Duramed Futures Tour's $90,000 Louisiana Pelican Classic wanting to know only one thing.
“What golf course was Liz playing today?” asked Jessica Shepley of Oakville, Ontario.
Indeed, Liz Janangelo of West Hartford, Conn., navigated her way around The Wetlands Golf Course with ease to post an opening-round score of seven-under-par 65 to take the early lead. It was a day that featured six birdies, one bogey and one eagle on her scorecard.
It also was a round that included a front-nine score of 29 (-7), which was a career-best nine-hole number for the former Duke University four-time All-American. Janangelo became the 10th member of the Tour to break 30 for nine holes. Only two other players have broken 30 on a par-36 course, including Peggy Kirsch in 1989, and Lorena Ochoa in 2002.
But setting new milestones wasn’t what was on Janangelo’s mind today. After a tie for 29th at the season-opening tournament in Winter Haven, Fla., and a missed cut two weeks ago in Daytona Beach, Fla., the 2008 LPGA Tour member was hoping only to settle her mind and get back to the kind of golf that helped her win twice on the 2007 Duramed FUTURES Tour.
“This was the first time I’ve played golf that I haven’t really cared,” she said. “I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself and today, I carried my own bag and it was just me out there – kind of like my college days. That’s what I thought about.”
The former U.S. Curtis Cup Team member played her first nine holes (the course’s back nine) at even-par 36, but the front nine was a different story. She rolled in a birdie from five feet on No. 3, holed out a pitching wedge from 120 yards for eagle on the par-4 fifth hole, and then birdied her last four holes – all from eight feet or less. She needed only 25 putts.
“I haven’t done this in a long time,” said Janangelo, who has been working with sports psychologist Bob Rotella. “I have to just believe in myself and know that I’ve been here before and that I play with some of the best players in the world every week. This is a breakthrough.”
Her round also was the number every player in the full field of 144 chased all day. Rookie Christine Song of Fullerton, Calif., and veteran Nicole Jeray of Berwyn, Ill., each carded rounds of three-under-par 69 in the morning, while Haeji Kang of Seoul, South Korea was the only player who cracked 70 in the afternoon, joining Song and Jeray in a tie for second.
Sae Hee Son of Seoul, South Korea, Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, British Columbia and Lisa Ferrero of Lodi, Calif., are tied for fifth at two-under-par 70.
“I feel like I’m confident – like everything is going to go in,” said Song, 17, whose last win was three years ago on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA). “If I can just do the same thing tomorrow, I’ll be happy.”
Jeray, 38, used her veteran experience while playing in today’s windy conditions. The LPGA Tour member said she stayed patient, even when she hit errant shots. At least three times, she saved par from five feet or more and had two sand saves.
“It’s playing tough enough that I could have shot an 80 or a 69, just depending on what happened in the crosswinds,” said Jeray, a three-time Tour winner. “The last two holes are playing so hard into the wind that I feel like I gained two shots on the field with pars there.”
A weather watcher, Jeray said her performance benefited by knowing the location of the prevailing winds on the course and the direction of the “grain” (how the grass grows) on most of the greens.
“I know where north, south, east and west is at all times and on days like these, that matters when you’re hitting your shots,” she said.
Sometimes luck counts, too. Or, lack of luck.
Irish-born US Curtis Cup player at St Andrews last year, Alison Walshe of Westford, Mass., was at four-under par after 14 holes – only one shot off the lead -- but her tee shot on No. 15 hit the cart path at an odd angle and kicked 100 yards left. The rookie took bogey, and then bogeyed the 16th after what she called “a stupid chip.” She finished at bogey-bogey on the 17th and 18th to card an even-par 72.
“The shot on 15 was just a bad break, but half the game is luck,” she said. “And those last three holes are tough in the wind. Sometimes, it’s just a guessing game.”
There was no guesswork, however, when it came to the difficulty of the 390-yard 18th hole today. Playing dead into the wind, the par-4 hole, which is bordered down the right side and in front of the green by a water hazard, doused more than a few hopes. The 18th played as the toughest hole with a scoring average of 4.8 strokes, rendering only two birdies all day. Three of the last four holes registered as the most difficult of the first round.
A total of 12 players finished under par and a total of 26 players are at even-par 72 or better.
“It’s good to get a low score early before we have bad weather,” said Kang of the expected weekend forecast, which calls for rain and high wind on Saturday.
Weather: Mostly cloudy with temperatures in the high 70s and wind between 12-15 mph.
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